Service Quality

Perspectives on Service Quality

Quality = excellence. Recognized only through

Transcendental: experience

Product-Based: Quality is precise and measurable

User-Based: Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder

Manufacturing Quality is conformance to the firm’s developed

Based: specifications

Value- Quality is a trade-off between price and value

Based:
Dimensions of Service Quality
 Tangibles
 Reliability
 Responsiveness
 Assurance
 competence,
 courtesy
 credibility
 security

 Empathy
 access
 communication
 understanding of customer
 Capturing the Customer’s Perspective of
Service Quality

 SERVQUAL – A research instrument developed to measure

customer satisfaction with different aspects of service
quality by Valarie Zeithaml
 Seven Service Quality Gaps
Customer needs CUSTOMER
and expectations

1. Knowledge Gap
Management definition
of these needs
MANAGEMENT
2. Standards Gap
Translation into
design/delivery specs
3. Delivery Gap
Execution of 4. I.C.Gap Advertising and
design/delivery specs sales promises

5. Perceptions Gap 6. Interpretation Gap

Customer perceptions Customer interpretation
of product execution of communications

7. Service Gap
Customer experience
relative to expectations
 Prescriptions for Closing Service Quality Gaps
 Knowledge: Learn what customers expect--conduct research,
dialogue, feedback
 Standards: Specify SQ standards that reflect expectations
 Delivery: Ensure service performance matches specs--consider
roles of employees, equipment, customers
 Internal communications: Ensure performance levels match
marketing promises
 Perceptions: Educate customers to see reality of service delivery
 Interpretation: Pretest communications to make sure message is
clear and unambiguous.
 Hard and Soft Measures of Service Quality
 Hard measures refer to standards and measures that can be
counted, timed or measured through audits
 typically operational processes or outcomes
 e.g. how many trains arrived late?
 Soft measures refer to standards and measures that cannot
easily be observed and must be collected by talking to
customers, employees or others
 e.g. SERVQUAL, surveys, and customer advisory panels.
 Control charts are useful for displaying performance over time
against specific quality standards.
Hard Measures of Service Quality

 Control charts to monitor a

single variable
 Service quality indexes
 Root cause analysis
(fishbone charts)
 Pareto analysis
 Tools to Address Service Quality Problems

 Fishbone diagrams: A cause-and-effect diagram to identify

potential causes of problems.

 Pareto charts: Separating the trivial from the important. Often,

a majority of problems is caused by a minority of causes i.e. the
80/20 rule.

 Blueprinting: A visualization of service delivery. It allows one to

identify fail points in both the frontstage and backstage.
 Cause and Effect Chart for
Airline Departure Delays (Fig. 14.3)
Facilities, Frontstage
Front-Stage
Procedure
Procedures
Equipment Personnel
Personnel

Aircraft late to Gate agents cannot Delayed check-in

Arrive late gate process fast enough procedure
Oversized bags Mechanical Acceptance of late
Customers Failures passengers
Customers Late/unavailable
Late pushback airline crew
Delayed
Departures
Late food Late cabin
service cleaners
Other Causes Poor announcement of
Weather Late baggage departures
Air traffic Weight and balance sheet
Late fuel
late

Materials,
Materials,
Supplies
Backstage Information
Supplies Personnel
 Analysis of Causes of
Flight Departure Delays (Fig. 14.4)

4.9
All stations, excluding
15.3% 23.1% %
Chicago-Midway Hub
19%
33.3%
15.4% 11.7%
9.5%
23.1% 8.7%
23.1% 33.3%
11.3% 53.3%

Newark 15% Washington Natl.

Late passengers Late weight and balance sheet

Waiting for pushback Late cabin cleaning / supplies
Waiting for fueling Other
 Return on Quality (ROQ)

 ROQ approach is based on four assumptions:

 Quality is an investment

 Quality efforts must be financially accountable

 It’s possible to spend too much on quality
 Not all quality expenditures are equally valid

 Implication: Quality improvement efforts may benefit from

being related to productivity improvement programs
 Overcoming Customers’ Reluctance to Accept
Changes in Environment and Behavior
 Develop customer trust
 Understand customers’ habits and expectations
 Pretest new procedures and equipment
 Publicize the benefits
 Teach customers to use innovations and promote trial
 Monitor performance, continue to seek improvements
 Process Improvement Process Design/Redesign
Define

Measure Six Sigma Methodology to Improve and

Analyze Redesign Customer Service Processes

Improve

Control
 Process Improvement Process Design/Redesign

Define Identify the problem Identify specific or broad

Define requirements problems
Set goals Define goal/change vision
Clarify scope & customer
requirements
Measure Validate problem/process Measure performance to
Refine problem/goal requirements
Measure key steps/inputs Gather process efficiency
data
Analyze Develop causal hypothesis Identify best practices
Identify root causes Assess process design
Validate hypothesis Refine requirements
Improve Develop ideas to measure root causes Design new process
Test solutions Implement new process,
Measure results structures and systems
Control Establish measures to maintain Establish measures &
performance reviews to maintain
Correct problems if needed performance
Correct problems if needed